Love at first sight: Selective breeding, pheromones, and Divine intervention

Principles of natural selection do not seem to require Divine intervention to change the behaviors that domestic animals have been selectively bred to exhibit. This begs the question how either selective breeding or natural selection could result in human behaviors associated with love at first sight. Were we selectively bred by God, as is indicated in the Holy Bible?

I’m not saying that Divine intervention is a requirement for human love. If human love exists, as many people believe it does, I say it requires activation of an existing gene-cell-tissue-organ-organ system pathway. That is a very technical requirement for the involvement of something that is known to exist, but it’s a pathway that also is required for sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain. Given its well-detailed existence, I am asking how animal models of behavior that incorporate this pathway for sexual differentiation of their brain and their behavior can be ignored when it comes to human love at first sight, which in some cultures is considered a sign of Divine intervention. “It’s a miracle; thank God I found her!”

I’m also beginning to realize the seriousness of the fundamental attribution error expressed in the phrase “love at first sight.” This error elevates the salience of visual input at the same time it denigrates the salience of olfactory/pheromonal input. The error results in the persistent cognitive bias that is expressed in discussions of the scientific study of animal behavior when they are extended to discussions of human behavior. Behaviors that are properly attributed to the effects of olfactory/pheromonal on hormones in other animals are attributed to beliefs about visual input. Belief in love at first sight is merely an example of how this persistent cognitive bias expresses itself as an unsubstantiated belief.

How does visual input cause a sex difference in anything? Belief in God seems, at first, to be comparatively antithetical. But when viewed from the same biologically-based perspective, such beliefs are not consistent with what’s observed in animal models of natural selection, which do not require love — especially not love at first sight. These animal models are built upon the established ability of chemical cues from the social environment to influence behavior. Visual cues are not required, although they are typically associated with the effect of olfactory/pheromonal input on hormones and behavior.

Given the existing concepts of evolution and natural selection, Richard Dawkins, seems to think that believing in God makes us delusional. From his fictional perspective, it would follow that people who believe in love at first sight are also delusional. Love itself may be a delusion. The obvious fictional nature of such delusional thoughts leads to the inability to grasp the importance of non-fictional biologically based animal models of behavior.

Using examples from natural selection and incorporating Divine intervention makes love at first sight as logical as cognitive bias makes it delusional. Combining what is known about natural selection with what some people believe about Divine intervention suggests that either God is love or that thoughts of love at first sight are delusional thoughts.

Arguably, I may simply be deluding myself. Perhaps someone who believes in love at first sight can prove whether or not I have created a false dichotomy. They could begin by proving how what we see leads to a sex difference in behavior, given that biological fact that sex differences exist. Obviously, a scientific approach must be used if there is to be any real proof. If a scientific approach cannot be used to show that love at first sight exists, belief in God may be an acceptable default position, until someone scientifically proves that He doesn’t exist.

James Vaughn Kohl was the first to accurately conceptualize human pheromones, and began presenting his findings to the scientific community in 1992. He continues to present to, and publish for, diverse scientific and lay audiences, while constantly monitoring the scientific presses for new information that is relevant to the development of his initial and ongoing conceptualization of human pheromones.
Recently, Kohl integrated scientific evidence that pinpoints the evolved neurophysiological mechanism that links olfactory/pheromonal input to genes in hormone-secreting cells of tissue in a specific area of the brain that is primarily involved in the sensory integration of olfactory and visual input, and in the development of human sexual preferences. His award-winning 2007 article/book chapter on multisensory integration: The Mind’s Eyes: Human pheromones, neuroscience, and male sexual preferences followed an award winning 2001 publication: Human pheromones: integrating neuroendocrinology and ethology, which was coauthored by disinguished researchers from Vienna. Rarely do researchers win awards in multiple disciplines, but Kohl’s 2001 award was for neuroscience, and his 2007 “Reiss Theory” award was for social science.
Kohl has worked as a medical laboratory scientist since 1974, and he has devoted more than twenty-five years to researching the relationship between the sense of smell and the development of human sexual preferences. Unlike many researchers who work with non-human subjects, medical laboratory scientists use the latest technology from many scientific disciplines to perform a variety of specialized diagnostic medical testing on people.
James V. Kohl is certified with:
* American Society for Clinical Pathology
* American Medical Technologists
James V. Kohl is a member of:
* Society for Neuroscience
* Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
* Association for Chemoreception Sciences
* Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
* International Society for Human Ethology
* American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
* Mensa, the international high IQ society

About James V. Kohl

James V. Kohl was the first to accurately conceptualize human pheromones, and began presenting his findings to the scientific community in 1992. He continues to present to, and publish for, diverse scientific and lay audiences, while constantly monitoring the scientific presses for new information that is relevant to the development of his initial and ongoing conceptualization of human pheromones.